“When I was parking at the supermarket the other night, it was 11 o’clock and I was going to park in a spot that was really convenient but it was dark so I went to a spot that was further away with a lot more lighting.

“I got out of the car, I had my keys splayed between my fingers and I have a whistle on my key ring.”

She said it was important for women to take measures to protect themselves as all it takes is one “madman”.

“I’ve had a whistle on my key ring for years,” she said.

“I’ve never had to use it but this is all about that one moment when you might be the one that gets picked because every single one of those women whose names we know like Eurydice Dixon – all of those women were chosen at random.

“They didn’t do anything wrong but all it takes is a madman to target you and you want to know you have everything in place to defend yourself.”

Wilkinson – who has a 20-year-old daughter, Billi – said it was important to pass on these lessons on to the next generation.

“It is common sense but the whole point is we need to tell our daughters to be safe,” she said.

“We need to look after each other but we also need people to understand what women go through on a daily basis without complaint. We do it just because we are women and the narrative has to change to what do we have to do to make sure that these broken people change their behaviour?

“How do we get to them when they are young so that their behaviour doesn’t go in such an evil way?”